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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake with alternating white and dark batters, creating a marbled appearance.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Marble Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Make the batters

  1. In another bowl, cream together the white sugar and butter.

  2. Add the 3 cups of flour, milk, baking soda, and cream of tartar to the butter mixture and mix well.

  3. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, brown sugar, syrup, sour cream, 5 cups of flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking soda.

  4. Gently fold the egg whites into the white batter.

Bake

  1. Layer the white and dark batters in a greased cake pan to create a marbled effect.

  2. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air for lift, while yolks add richness and structure to the batter.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten network that sets the crumb and holds the cake together.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and mild acidity that keeps the cake tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic ingredients to release gas that lifts the batter.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and molasses flavor to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Gently fold the egg whites into the white batter. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Vigorous stirring deflates them, leaving a dense, heavy crumb.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour, milk, cream, syrup):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Jalapenofits less well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour, milk, cream, syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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